Another challenge
by Lord Maximus
Summary: ONESHOT Xana and William watch as Jeremy slowly dies from a car crash and the Lyoko Warriors grieve for him. But Xana does not feel victorius but instead he feels cheated.


Disclaimer: I don't own Code: Lyoko

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The digital sea is random data floating about the network that looks and moves like water, hence the name. It lines every sector in Lyoko, with the exception of Carthage, which is lined with an equivalent data barrier. Falling into the sea causes permanent virtualization, reducing a person to data that is pulled through the network at random. However below the sea is a different story.

It resembles a large upside down city and the building is networked bases. Also floating within the sea are specially designed Replicas of Lyoko created by Xana from the data he had stolen from Aelita. Inside one of these Replicas is a complete copy of Carthage which holds countless drones but the copy is not like the original at all. A large castle came into view and it was so tall the top could not be seen from the bottom.

Countless drones moved through the hallway to do their work but that was not important. At the top floor of the castle was where something was happening. A figure sat on a black throne monitoring five kids. These kids were his sworn enemies.

However something happened today that sparked his (what humans would call) interest. These humans had fought him on both Earth and Lyoko and somehow survived each encounter. He had felt humiliated for being defeated by children but found himself quite surprised when he was to feel emotions from fighting them. Hate, rage, loathing, came to him from his evil nature and such emotions as surprise, anxiousness, and excitement he experienced.

However something happened today that not even he suspected. The boy known as Jeremy who was a genius that awoken him and fought him in terms of programming warfare had suffered a great injury from being hit by a car. The medical report showed he was in a coma but his condition was slowly getting worse. The pink haired girl known as Aelita who had been his unwilling companion for the last twelve years in Lyoko cried for the boy.

The computer program known as Xana watched as they all grieved for the boy. The young boy known as Odd had shown no sign of his annoying cheerful personality. Another emotion known as annoyance he had the privilege of experiencing when he fought the boy. No so called jokes or clever comments.

Only silent tears and sadness was seen on the boy's face. He turned to look at Odd's best friend Ulrich who also showed signs of sadness but was comforting (that was what he believed to be) the girl known as Yumi. Ulrich was the strongest out of his enemies on Lyoko yet a simple accident and emotions weaken, perhaps, cripple him down to the point where fighting him would be no challenge at all. Yumi the girl who lived with her parents who were her guardians but humans called them 'family'.

William walked up beside the throne and watched their enemies grieve for the boy.

"So just like that they lose." said William.

The figure on the throne turned to look at William. He wore mostly black everywhere but his face was not concealed. If it was anyone else that would have said he was Aelita's twin brother except his hair was black with red streaks all through it and his skin was pale. His eyes were mostly bright green with a red glowing tint in them and black triangular marks were located under the eyes.

The marks were slightly curved like half the moon was covered and showed a circular triangle.

"What do you mean? They have not been defeated yet." said Xana,

"No but without their techno geek they will fall apart. Not to mention that they all look they are in no position to fight you." said William.

Xana looked at the screen again and was silent. It was true. Jeremy was the reason they had come so far. He showed the computer and virtualized them from the beginning, he materialized Aelita and found Franz Hopper's diary, and he created the digital sub used to track their nemesis through the digital sea.

Aelita would be the only to do it and she was emotionally crippled like the rest. Xana looked back on all the times he watched them. He had seen them laugh at Odd's attempts at humor, them laughing as they had fun with their games, they sometimes got into fights but they came back stronger than ever, he listened to them argue about such things. They had argued over dozens of different things.

Their arguments always ended with them coming back but this was different. Xana then felt an emotion completely alien to him: confusion. He should be basking in the glory of knowing his enemies would be easily dealt with now but all he felt was emptiness. He watched as Aelita begged the doctor for anything that could help Jeremy.

How typical of the girl. She already knows the outcome of the incident but refuses to believe it. Why wasn't he feeling victorious now that one of his enemies would die?

"Yo, Xana. Are you all right? The kid's about to bite the dust but you're not happy at all." said William.

Happiness is an emotion of joy. Xana had never felt happiness . . . Ever. Instead he felt . . . Cheated. Jeremy had survived much more dangerous situations when he was trying to destroy him and his allies but now because of a simple car crash he now lies on a bed waiting to die.

Xana's victory was achieved by default. No fight to the end, no speech on how he would never win . . . nothing. On some level Xana respected his enemies for coming so far and he somewhat enjoyed challenging them.

"No. I am not happy at as you say, William. I feel what humans would say cheated." said Xana, finally.

"Cheated, but why?" asked William, surprised.

He had never seen Xana like this before.

"I have fought Jeremy and his friends for three years now and he has survived every one of my attacks which were more dangerous than a simple car crash." said Xana,

"I get it. You want to be the one to kill Jeremy and the rest but now that Jeremy is dying they aren't going to be a challenge for you. Pinkie won't be able to handle the stress of dealing with us and her so called normal live." said William, somewhat amused.

Xana must have caught the signs of amusement because he glared at William which sent fear pulsing through the boy. William knew how bad it was when Xana got mad. Xana wasn't quick to anger but things would get bad when he went off the deep end.

"But we can't help him. He's as good as dead." said William,

"Perhaps but perhaps not. The only one who is going to kill him and the rest is me. Even if it is saving his life it is only for the benefit for killing him myself later." said Xana.

"But how can you heal him?" asked William, curious.

"You have seen what my powers can do, William. All I need is a tower and Jeremy's friends won't know that is me because his laptop was smashed in the accident and they are falling asleep right now. I can tell, William that you want to fight them when they are at their best yourself." said Xana.

William allowed a smug grin across his face. Even if Xana was just a computer program he understood emotions almost to the point that he could have been human. Xana closed his eyes and tower on Lyoko glowed red. His form faded into a dark mist and entered a screen that appeared that showed it was logged onto the Internet.

Xana soon appeared out of an electrical socked in his mist form. The moon shined through the window which illuminated the dying form of Jeremy. Aelita was asleep at his side. It was obvious from the tear stained sheets that she cried herself to the point of exhaustion.

The others were asleep as well. Even of the Lyoko scan did detect the infected tower it was not possible for them to know yet. Xana guided himself towards Jeremy without making a sound to wake the others. Once he was sure that they were not awake he entered Jeremy's body and spread himself throughout the boy's system.

Xana could easily sense the damage inflicted on the boy. Fractured bones that were mostly on the back and lung damage. This was not a problem for someone like Xana. Once he possessed his victim it was easy to alter it to his needs.

Even though Jeremy had been on Lyoko it had been a while and his defenses against Xana had faded from not being on Lyoko for a long period of time. It was easy for Xana to repair the heavily damaged system. He would only repair the fatal damage so the others would not get suspicious.

The damage to his lungs cut of a large amount of room which was needed for air supply. There were also shards and fractures from the crash which Xana destroyed easily. In the end it was too easy. The bones could heal without his help and knowing how persistent Jeremy was it would be no trouble for him to continue his work.

Xana was looking forward to seeing how far this boy would go in the coming battle.

"Sleep well, my enemies, tomorrow is another day. This means another challenge that I look forward to."

And Xana always enjoyed being the challenger.


End file.
